I am a Tombstone Tourist: someone who loves to wander cemeteries. I find it akin to visiting a museum: an opportunity to enjoy rarely seen sculpture, intricate carvings, and amazing architecture, all in a tranquil outdoor setting. This blog is about cemetery culture, art, history, issues of death, and genealogy - subjects of current relevance. I usually find something that intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper. Care to join me? Read on...

Friday, April 26, 2013

Lincoln’s Phantom Train

Lincoln's Funeral Train

In
the spring of the year, you might hear whisperings about a phantom train seen
traveling through seven U.S. states.Legend has it this is the Funeral Train of President Abraham Lincoln,
still running its designated route from Washington to Springfield – and still
on time.

Abraham Lincoln

Mary Todd Lincoln

Abraham
Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was surrounded by odd occurrencesand paranormal experiences all of his life.His wife, Mary Todd Lincoln dabbled in spiritualism,
believed in omens, and held séances trying to establish contact with her dead
son Willie.

Lincoln's Dream

Lincoln’s
death also held mystery. About two weeks before he was killed, Lincoln had a
dream that foretold his death.In
the dream, he heard sobbing and followed it to the East Room where he saw
soldiers guarding a body.When
Lincoln asked, “Who is dead in the White House?”, a solider answered, “The
President.He was killed by an
assassin.”

At Ford's Theatre

Three
days after relating his dream to his wife, Mary, and a few close friends,
Lincoln was assassinated. It was during the evening of April 14, 1865 at Ford’s
Theater in Washington D.C.Actor
John Wilkes Booth burst into the Presidential box and shot the president at
point-blank range before escaping.Lincoln lived only a few hours before dying at 7:22 A.M. on April 15th.Flags were immediately lowered to
half-mast, bells across the city began to toll, and a shocked nation went into
mourning.

Oak Hill Chapel

William (Willie) Lincoln

It
had been planned that Lincoln’s young son Willie was eventually to be interred
back home in Springfield, Illinois. When Lincoln died, both he and Willie would
make the final journey home together.Willie had died in 1862 at the age of 11 from what was apparently
typhoid fever.Willie’s body was
removed from a borrowed vault at Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown so that he
could be buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

Edwin Stanton

Funeral Train Route

Secretary
of War Edwin M. Stanton was in charge of overseeing the arrangements for the
funeral train.An order to
commandeer the use of the railroads from Washington to Springfield, Illinois was
issued. The funeral train would travel 1,654 miles along the same route Lincoln
had taken as president-elect in 1861. The only difference was the train would
not go through Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.

Funeral Train

Schedule of Route

The
train left Washington on April 21stand arrived in Springfield, Illinois on May 3rd ,
having traveled through seven states, and past 440 communities. The actual
funeral route went through Baltimore, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, New York City,
Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago, before
arriving at Springfield.

Guard of Honor

The Nine Car Train

The
funeral train was called The Lincoln Special. The engine was the known as the
Nashville. The train consisted of nine cars with the funeral car being the
eighth in line. A Guard of Honor accompanied Lincoln’s body, and his son Robert
also rode on the train.

Mourners Line Tracks

Thousands
lined the tracks during the 13-day trip.Regardless of the time of day, or night, entire towns and communities
turned out to pay their respects and watch silently as the train bearing their president glided past.

Depot at Springfield, Illinois

Lincoln Home Draped in Mourning

The
Lincoln Special reached its destination of Springfield on May 3rd,
1865.But, it apparently still
runs the same route each year during the last part of April. At least, a phantom funeral train does...

Hundreds
have reported seeing the ghost train traveling through the countryside with the
President’s casket aboard.It has
been rumored that clocks and watches stop running when the train passes by. The
air on the tracks becomes cool and sharp, while just off to the side, the air
remains warm but still. Clouds cover the moon, and a ghostly headlight pierces
the night. Suddenly, with a rush of wind, the train passes by,
noiselessly, as if running on a carpet.

There
are reports that mournful music may be heard coming from the train, while
others say that the train goes past without a sound.Some see smoke belch from the stack, others hear an eerie
whistle as the train approaches. There are reports of skeletons dressed in
blue, standing at attention by Lincoln’s flag-draped casket.Flags and streamers attached to the
train whip in the wind, but no sound is heard as the train fades from view

Albany, New York

If
the phantom train encounters a real train, the sounds are suddenly hushed as
the ghost train passes through it and continues on its spectral journey.

Getting Ready in Urbana, Ohio

Communities
throughout the seven states still hold watches for the phantom funeral train.The best known are in Albany, New York
on the nights of April 26 and 27, and in Urbana, Ohio, on the night of April 29th.

Legend
has it that the phantom train never reaches its destination but simply
disappears some where along the tracks out on the Illinois prairie.

Lincoln's Funeral Car

The
Lincoln funeral car changed hands several times after fulfilling its duty.
Unfortunately, in March 1911, the car was destroyed when a fire swept
through an area near Minneapolis, Minnesota where it was being stored.

Regardless,
you might want to grab a blanket and take a friend with you tonight to a lonely
set of tracks where, if you’re lucky, you might get to see Lincoln’s Funeral
Train solemnly pass by…yet again.

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